Identifiaction and Molecular Size of Zine-Binding Ligands in Pancreatic/Biliary Fluid of Rats

the exocrine pancreatic secretion is an important factor in the maintenance of zinc homeostasis. The daily pancreatic secretion of zinc into the gastrointestinal tract may be two or more times the daily dietary zinc intake. The objective of this study was to examine the distribution of proteins and zinc in pancreatic/biliary fluid following intraperitoneal {TEX}${65}^Zn${/TEX} injection into dietary prepared Sprague-Dawly rats. Distribution of zinc-binding protein in Sephadex G-75 subfractions showed a peak corresponding to the high molecular weight protein standard(<66kDa) in the pancreatic/biliary fluid. Zinc also was associated with the 29~35kDa mole-cular weight proteins. These are similar in size with zinc-containing enzymes, carboxypeptidase A and car-boxypeptidase B. A more remarkable small molecular weight fraction eluted beyond the 6.5kDa standard pro-tein peak. These results show the presence of small molecular weight compound in pancreatic/biliary fluid associated with zinc . These small molecular weight compounds may serve as zinc-binding ligands for the secretion of enogenous zinc into the duodenum. These findings suggest that these lignads may dissociate zinc in the duodenum thus making it vulnerable to complexation with phytate in the upper gastrointestinal tract rendering the zinc unavailable for reabsorption.